1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 624 Raiders of Timor Island ([-])
"Boom! Boom! Boom!..."

The cannonballs all over the sky roared like a torrential rain, as if they regarded the whole earth as the object of their pouring.Countless shells smashed down on the stone wall of the turret, splashing gravel and mud, and the bullets bounced and tried their best to release their kinetic energy.

Every time more than a dozen ships fired a salvo, the pier fort was baptized with blood and fire. A Dutch armed merchant ship moored in the port just launched two rounds of counterattacks with the pier fort, and it immediately attracted several people. The artillery bombardment of a Hanzhou warship.After being shot more than ten rounds and several parts damaged, this brave armed merchant ship had to hide in the depths of the river mouth immediately, not daring to show up again.

A few miles away from the east and west sides of the fort on the pier, countless small boats are struggling to row towards the shore. Hundreds of native servants are lying on the boats, their eyes are fixed on the movement of the shore, and they keep praying in their hearts that once The true God (Hanzhou people do not allow the natives in the territory to worship the True God religion) and the Supreme Lord, I hope the Dutch will not block their first wave of landing personnel on the shore.

The East India Company mercenaries discovered the landing operation initiated by the Hanzhou people at the first time, but due to the limited number of available troops on their own side, it was difficult to block the east and west sides at the same time.However, Lieutenant Ismail Hux, the sheriff, still dispatched more than 50 people to stop the enemy landing on the east first, because it was the closest to the pier fort, and it was necessary to prevent the enemy from attacking the fort after landing.

Xu Chuanxing, the commander in chief of the landing and the commander of the second battalion of the Marine War, saw that the Dutch mercenaries rushed to shoot and kill dozens of the more than a hundred native servants who had landed earlier, and the rest jumped into the sea desperately, thumping about. Fleeing backwards, he couldn't help shaking his head.

"Let the navy brothers ignore the casualties of the natives and directly fire to cover the landing of the natives." Xu Chuanxing turned his head and told the combat staff officer.

The navy's warships over there are fighting against the fort. Although the firepower is completely superior in terms of density, each of the warships is made of wood after all. When fighting against the fort built of rocks and bricks on the shore, it is naturally at a disadvantage. .Moreover, the Qi State Task Force will continue to compete with the Dutch sea power for sea control in the later stage, so naturally it cannot lose too much.

This requires the landing force to attack the fort from the side and rear and occupy the dock.Only in this way can a large group of troops and heavy artillery be assembled to go ashore and seize the strongholds stationed by the Dutch.

At this time, there is no need to pay attention to casualties. The natives are originally used for consumption, and it is considered a worthy death to conquer the city for my Daqi.

Sure enough, the mercenaries of the Dutch East India Company could not withstand the indiscriminate bombardment of the ships of the Qi State Navy.

At around three o'clock in the afternoon, after the troops of the natives who had successfully landed on the east and west sides took a rest, a group of more than a hundred troops, under the command of several Qi officers, launched a desperate charge towards the fort with spears .

"Boom! Boom! Boom!..."

"Bang! Bang! Bang!..."

Grape bullets and volley gun fire instantly stopped the momentum of the charge, and then he uttered a cry, turned his head and fled backwards.

The Qi military officer behind the formation waved forward expressionlessly, and a group of native servants rushed over quickly, disarming the retreating native soldiers and knocking them to the ground.

"Those who retreat without orders will be beheaded by the captain and squad leader, and the rest will be demoted to the loyal army as slaves!" A Qi military officer loudly announced the battlefield discipline, and then stared coldly at another group of natives who were about to charge. Soldiers, "Whoever breaks into the fort first will be rewarded with a farm ox and a female slave. Whoever wins will be promoted to noble and join the loyal army!"

The so-called nobles and the Loyalty Army are deformed products created by the Timor Island General Administration to manage the natives on the island a few years ago. Some of the natives who can speak a little Chinese and have sincerely converted to Qi will all be promoted to nobles. , and organized them into a direct colonial army to suppress the native tribes and people on the island.Of course, they also killed and suppressed some native forces on the island who refused to accept the "kingdom".When it comes to wartime, you must follow the Qi State Marine Corps and township soldiers to fight in all directions.

Therefore, in Timor Island, their status is second only to the Qi people, enjoying the offerings of ordinary civilians and slaves, and the cost of food and clothing is similar to that of ordinary people in Qi.In other words, these loyal troops are the Han Eight Banners of Qi!

For this attack on Oecussi and Kubang, the Timor Island General District sent more than 500 loyal soldiers and more than 1000 ordinary native servants, intending to compete with the Dutch for consumption.

Under the strict supervision of the officers of the Qi State, the native servants finally paid the price of nearly two hundred casualties, broke into the fort, beheaded 16 Dutch mercenaries, and captured 38 people.

Afterwards, armed merchant ships carrying marines and local soldiers docked quickly, and soldiers and combat resources were continuously brought ashore.

Holding his musket, Wu Yang stepped out of the queue and looked up at the Dutch castle in front of him. He could faintly see many Dutchmen standing on the top of the castle, presumably they were also looking at us.

I heard that since the beginning of the war, the soldiers of the Marine Corps have hardly fired a single shot. All the battles were fought by the brothers on the naval warships. They finally encountered and landed on Serran Island to seize the Dutch stronghold as an anchorage for the fleet. , But in the end, the Dutch saw that our army was strong, so they surrendered on their own initiative.

When several armed merchant ships transported Wu Yang and his marines assembled in Xuanwu to Ambon Island, everyone thought that if they wanted to attack Ambon Port, they could make meritorious deeds and gain their own military merits.But who knew, the fleet directly arranged for four warships to blockade Ambon.And they were all pulled to Timor Island, ready to attack Oecussi and Kupang.

In the morning, the fleet had a boring artillery battle with the fort of Oecussi Wharf for several hours. The governor ordered the marines to land on the two wings of the fort, but they still didn't intend to use their marines, and they didn't even send out the township soldiers. Send those stupid natives ashore first, as the pioneers of the army.

Looking at the natives who were digging the defensive trenches in front of the camp, Wu Yang couldn't help curling his lips contemptuously. They took so much effort to attack a fort, so wouldn't they be even more powerless when facing the Dutch fortified castle.

It seems that to fight tough battles and attack fortifications depends on us officers and soldiers of the Marine Corps. Those natives cannot be called real warriors at all.

"This is the first time you have experienced a siege battle?" Suddenly, a voice rang in my ears.

Wu Yang was startled, and turned his head to look, but it was a company commander of the Marine Corps, but he was not his immediate superior.The company commander, with a pipe in his mouth, looked at him with interest.

"Sir, before I joined the Marine Corps, I fought the natives in Sulu, and also attacked the king's city of the natives." Wu Yang replied respectfully.

"A native city deserves to be called a city!" Hong Chuanxiang took a deep breath from his pipe, and then exhaled a smoke ring. "I'm afraid that our cannons can destroy the city, and then you rush in."

"Sir, it is true."

"Did you see the Dutch castle in front?" Hong Chuanxiang pointed forward, "It is estimated that we may not be able to break a hole even if we bombarded for a long time. Moreover, there must be a large number of artillery on the top of the city. In addition Go up to the one or two hundred Musketeers stationed on the other side, if we forcefully charge up, I am afraid that the few companies that come here will not be enough to consume."

As a soldier, he is naturally shrouded in horse leather, and he is not afraid of sacrifice, so he deserves to be called a loyal and brave warrior of my Great Qi.Wu Yang thought so in his heart.

"As a soldier, you must first protect yourself." Hong Chuanxiang looked at the Japanese platoon leader full of samurai spirit, and warned softly: "Especially as an officer, in battle, you must protect the lives of dozens of brothers under you." Life is responsible. In war, sometimes it is not only about bravery and not being afraid of sacrifice, but also needs to use more brains to find a way. In short, it is necessary to obtain the greatest results at the lowest cost.”

"... Thank you, sir, for your teaching!" Wu Yang respectfully saluted Hong Chuanxiang.

"For this battle, I guess we have to start by digging the ground again." Hong Chuanxiang glanced at the Dutch castle in the distance again, then walked towards the temporary camp with his pipe hanging.

In a large tent in the camp, Xu Chuanxing, the commander-in-chief of the landing, was having military discussions with three company commanders of the Marine Corps, six captains of the township soldiers, and several combat and intelligence staff officers, discussing how to conquer this Dutch stronghold—— Fort Hallward.

"The predecessor of this fortress was the former Portuguese headquarters in Timor Island. The city defenses were relatively strong, and it was a typical European bastion." Cao Mingyi, a combat staff officer, said: "After the Dutch occupied the place, they attacked the fortress again. It has been rebuilt and expanded, and many artillery positions have been added. Moreover, the opponent also introduced the nearby river water into the moat outside the city and used it as a moat, which caused many difficulties for us to approach the city."

"Faced with this situation, we have two options. One is to use our abundant number of people to besiege it for a long time, forcing the city to run out of supplies, so as to achieve the goal of self-destruction. The second is to divert the water from the moat to Go, and then start digging tunnels and ditches all the way to the vicinity of the city, and plant explosives under the city wall to blow up the city wall."

"If the siege doesn't take more than half a year, it may not be effective." Xu Chuanxing thought for a while, and then said: "Then let the natives dig the soil and dig holes. Anyway, our fleet is here to lure Dutch ships to come to rescue , There is still some time to slowly grind with the Dutch for a while."

(End of this chapter)